A former soldier who spent four tough years in an Indian jail as one of the so-called Chennai Six has re-trained as a VIP bodyguard thanks to a Bonhill security firm.

Nick Dunn, 32, and five other former British soldiers were working as armed escorts when they were imprisoned in 2013 on charges of smuggling weapons and ammunition on a ship.

Their convictions were overturned in November last year and Nick was given a hero’s welcome when he returned home.

Almost six months after his release, he has been taken under the wing of Bonhill-based company Horizon who are training him up as a close protection bodyguard ready to work with VIPs including members of the Royal family, movie stars and Middle Eastern oil tycoons.

The local firm contacted Nick, of Ashington in Northumberland, and offered to put him up and give him the five-week training for free.

He joined a dozen other trainees during a dramatic medical drill in a mock-up war-torn Iraq scene at the firm’s base in a quiet residential Bonhill street.

Simulated helicopter sounds wailed through radios against a scene of smashed-up vehicles and desert sand as they tended to ‘bloodied’ actors and dummies.

Nick said he has vowed to put his darkest days behind him and says that, despite his ordeal, he doesn’t want to change his career: “I’ve had to rebuild my life.

“So much has happened that I’ve missed out on and there are certain things I’ve forgotten to do.

“I had to phone my brother and ask him how to use the washing machine as I had been using a bucket for four years.

“I’m so grateful for the smallest of things now – even a hot bath.

“That was one of the first things I did when I got home – after a steak.”

He continued: “The course has been brilliant — it’s helped give me something new to focus on and given me some respite.

“I still want a career protecting people – I’m not letting what happened stop me from doing that.”

The former soldiers, who became known as the Chennai Six, were locked up at Puzhal Central Prison in India while they fought for their freedom.

The men – including Scotsman Billy Irving from Argyll – were providing armed escorts for merchant vessels and were part of the 35-man crew of an anti-piracy ship boarded by customs officials in the Indian Ocean in 2013.

Charges against them were quashed when the men argued the weapons were lawfully held for anti-piracy purposes and their paperwork, issued by the UK Government, was in order.

Nick Dunn arrives back at Newcastle International Airport after being released from an Indian prison. Pictured with sister Lisa.

The men were then released on bail but were unable to leave India.

But they were sent back to prison in January 2016 when a lower court reinstated the charges and they were sentenced to five years.

That verdict was overturned by the Indian High Court in November 2017 and judges ordered the men’s passports be returned.

Lifting the lid on life inside the prison, Nick said: “It was four years of mental torture. The power would go off all the time and we would be in sweltering 40 degrees heat with no fans or water.

“I created a daily routine, which became very important. I would have my breakfast and then I would do a word search or dot-to-dot and maybe read some of my book.

“Then we would get vegetables and start preparing food.”

Determined to keep himself going, gym-lover Nick trained daily in the compound, devising a make-shift training area out of sticks, stones and bedsheets.

He initially shared a concrete cell with 23 men, which he was allowed to leave between 6am and 6pm every day.

One of Nick’s darkest moments was being given the devastating news that his mum Margaret had suffered a double aneurism five days before Christmas in 2013.

Welling up, he said: “The British Embassy called me in and they may as well have told me she had died. I only ever cry whenever I talk about my mam.

“Luckily, she had an operation and everything worked out fine.

“I’m a big believer in talking about your problems. I never used to be but I am now.

“I dealt with the demons every single day.”

But during the four-year ordeal, there was one ray of light.

While on bail but unable to leave India, Nick met IT worker Monalisa Das in a bar.

He said: “We just clicked straight away.

“She had to make the choice of whether to stick by me – and she said she would wait for me until the end of the world.”

Describing the moment he returned home to a hero’s welcome in Newcastle, he said: “I was physically and mentally exhausted but as soon as I heard the pilot say we were landing, I felt instantly rejuvenated.

“I owe everything to the support from people from across the world. They campaigned and raised money for all the legal fees.”

And he poured praise on his sister Lisa who helped lead the campaign for his release. He said: “I’m in her debt for the rest of eternity.”

Chris Campbell, operations manager of the Bonhill-based company Horizon, said the firm was compelled to help out Nick, adding: “We like to support students where we can and given what Nick has been through we felt we had to help him.

“We put the course on free of charge and will try and aid him into employment.”

Horizon has gained an international reputation as one of the best training programmes of its kind with students travelling from all over the world to Bonhill to take part.

The Lennox told you in March about two Horizon students who saved the life of a man in serious danger on Bonhill Bridge after coming across him during an exercise.